Work Release Program Shut Down in Sussex County

GEORGETOWN, Del. (AP) — State corrections officials say they are investigating a program that allows offenders held at the Sussex Work Release Center to work as day laborers.

The Delaware Department of Correction says the Georgetown facility has virtually no documentation of the day-labor program over the past 23 years.

The News Journal of Wilmington reports that the problem came to light after the News Journal submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for details about the program. The newspaper made the request after two inmates became involved in a tire-burning incident after being picked up for day labor by state Rep. John Adkins.

Corrections officials learned this month about the lack of documentation. That revelation prompted Correction Commissioner Carl Danberg to shut down the program, which began in 1989.